When the word "Taliban" is mentioned, most people immediately associate it with September 11, 2001 and the war in Afghanistan that took place shortly after. But the Taliban are much more than just the terrorists who destroyed the Twin Towers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Taliban or “Students of Islamic Knowledge Movement” has a broader history than most people assume (Hayes, http://www.infoplease.com/spot/taliban.html). In reality, the Taliban is a militia that has controlled Afghanistan since 1996. Their initial goal was to end the factional war that took place after the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The war between these different factions has cost thousands of lives. Although the Taliban are considered a loose network of more than a dozen terrorist organizations, they are all led by Mullah Muhammad Omar and are united by the pan-Islamic vision of Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization, Al Qaeda, is organized very much like a business. The structure of the Taliban is a hierarchy that clearly shows Osama bin Laden at the top, as Emir General (McDougall Littell. Pg US10). Below bin Laden are his two main lieutenants, but from there the structure of the Taliban is unclear. There are different terrorist groups belonging to Islamic Jihad, Jihad or Hamas that carry out operations on behalf of the Taliban. It is important to learn the history of Afghanistan to understand how the Taliban was formed. The initial events that led to the creation of the Taliban began almost a century ago. In 1933, the last king, Muhammad Zahir Shah, came to power. In 1953, Dauod Khan, cousin of Zahir Shah, was appointed Prime Minister, but was later removed from office in 1963. In 1973, Muhammad Zahir Shah was overthrown by Daoud Khan in a bloodless coup. But in 1978, it was Dauod's turn to lose power. He was assassinated in a coup while trying to suppress his political enemies (Ali 28). After Khan's death, leaders of the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) took control of the country. Nur Mohammed Taraki became chairman of the council and also prime minister of Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal was chosen as deputy prime minister (Ali 28). The PDPA was later divided into two different factions. The Khalq was led by Taraki and Hafizullah Amin. The Parcham was led by Karmal. Past conflicts between the two factions emerged and violence broke out. Thousands of people were captured or killed. Radical land reforms and social reforms also significantly changed the Afghan way of life (Ali 28). In 1978, Soviet troops came into conflict with Afghan guerrillas (mujahideen) following the coup that overthrew President Daoud Khan. The Soviet Union was again incited to invade Afghanistan after Hafizullah Amin ordered Taraki killed in 1979. The Afghan War which took place between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan lasted between 1979 and 1992. Since the Soviet Union had the advantage in strength and technology, the Afghans were forced to wage guerrilla warfare. With the help of the United States, Britain and China, the Afghans managed to force Soviet troops to withdraw in February 1989. In April 1992, the communist regime was overthrown by the mujahideen. After the country took power, rival mujahideen leaders fought for supremacy (Ali 30). During thisDuring this period, thousands of civilians were killed in this struggle for power. In the early 1990s, amid all the fighting and massacres, the Taliban emerged. The Taliban were initially a group of students who followed Mullah Muhammad Omar. Their goal was to restore order to the war-torn country and enforce their interpretation of Islamic law. The Taliban expanded their influence by attacking local warlords and quickly gained a reputation for their military capability. Although many Americans view the Taliban as evil and maniacal, they had fairly humble beginnings. In the beginning, they had many supporters for several reasons. The Taliban were mostly Pashtuns, so much of their support came from Afghanistan's Pashtun community. However, ethnicity was not the only factor: many Afghans were tired of the constant fighting between the warring factions. These battles for power had already cost many lives; The Taliban brought hope and joy to the people by suppressing violence and eradicating corruption in the government. The Taliban had begun their quest for Afghanistan. Although the Taliban may have been popular at first, they quickly lost many supporters due to their harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Their policies deprived women of many privileges. These policies prohibited women from working outside the home in activities other than health care. Women were also prohibited from attending university, and all girls' schools in Kabul and some other cities were closed. Primary schools for girls continued to operate in many other parts of the country under Taliban control. The Taliban also imposed a strict dress code on women. Those convicted of certain crimes would be subject to corporal punishment. Women we caught breaking the law were punished severely. In one incident, a woman was publicly executed for the murder of her husband by the Taliban. The woman was first taken to a stadium where thousands of spectators came to witness the brutal killing. Then she was shot three times by a Taliban soldier. Islamic law allowed the family of the murdered person to forgive the murderer. Even though the husband's family forgave the women, the Taliban did not pay attention to the pleas and killed the women anyway. Besides women, the Taliban also targeted different factions or ethnicities during their conquest of Afghanistan. One group in particular, the Hazaras, have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban. In January 2001, around 300 unarmed Hazaras were massacred. However, the most devastating massacres took place in 1997, when the Taliban killed more than 2,000 civilians, most of whom were Hazara. In modern times, the Taliban is considered an infamous organization that circulates around terror and destruction of others. It was supposed to be a group that sought religious knowledge, but is now a society that constitutes the pinnacle of military and political power. It is led by several notorious leaders who order their followers to kill, destroy and betray their fellow Afghans by demolishing cities, murdering hundreds and rising up with unjust power. The minds behind the Taliban are those who control power, the leaders who influence terror. Osama bin Laden, originally from Saudi Arabia, is a prominent fugitive from the Taliban. It would have been linked to the planning ofthe attack on the World Trade Centers more than three years ago, after the incident in the same buildings in 1994. He was also the one who bombed the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, killing 224 people. . Its main objectives are to kill all Americans and their allies, civilian and military. He is currently on the run and it is doubted that he is dead. Many believe he is still alive, on the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and rumor has it that he has disguised himself. Many might believe that Osama is the real mastermind of the Taliban, but Mullah Mohammed Omar is the important leader of the organization. A descendant of scholars, Mullah Mohammed Omar believed in the judgment of God and religion was the key. Born into a poor family, he led a simple life and later became a fighter in the war alongside Osama bin Laden against the Soviet Union. He forced women to never leave the house, denied them work and school, and forced them to cover themselves entirely. A famous attack he ordered involved destroying Buddha statues as a sign of dissatisfaction with the religion. Ayman al-Zawahiri is number two alongside Osama bin Laden, whom he has known since the 1980s. Zawahiri helped found Islamic Jihad, the group that assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981. He later was accused of the attempted assassination of President Hosni Mubarak in 1995 and the massacre of foreign tourists in 1997. He was sentenced to death by an Egyptian court. Bin Laden's other top commander is Egyptian-born Mohammad Atef. Atef and al-Zawahiri are credited with launching the most violent and carefully planned terrorist operations against the Al-Qaeda movement. He gives military commands in Pakistan, Europe and elsewhere in the world. He encouraged attacks on American troops in Somalia in 1993. He had satellite phone and fax exchanges with bin Laden, discussing orders for further attacks. Abdul Salam Zaeef is the Taliban ambassador and spoke on behalf of Osama bin Laden. He is a member of the Taliban inner circle and has committed crimes against humanity, globally and in Afghanistan. He strongly influenced the region and the attacks and became involved in media and information. Rumors say he is dead, tortured to death, but there is evidence that he was linked to the Taliban and is still very much alive. One of the main goals of the Taliban is to drive out everything that corrupts and obstructs the establishment of a pure Islamic state. Many of these things included what we use in the western part of the world. Entertainment sources like television, music and movies do not exist in Afghanistan. The Taliban would take harsh measures to keep their country so far from influences from the outside world. Terrible actions were done to express their ideas of what their idea of ​​the world should be. Their methods included public executions, in accordance with Islamic law, or attacks on important locations. Not only were they targeting their own people, but they were also targeting opposing forces outside of Afghanistan. Significant Taliban attacks included attacks on United States embassies, the Khobar Towers bombings, the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001, and the hijacking of TWA Flight 847. Taliban embassies United States in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were a key target for the Taliban. On August 7, 1998, at precisely 10:30 a.m., these two embassies were attacked with car bombs. The attack in Kenya destroyed the Ufundi cooperative building, which collapsed on top of the embassy. The attack.